Gia's Amnesia
by Tigreye33
Summary: First Installment of the Alpha's Path Series. While continuing on the American tour, Alex and Gia are involved in an accident and Gia loses her memory. Can Alex get her to remember before too much changes? -ON HIATUS-
1. Sparring Night

**I do not own Madagascar. Everything belongs to Dreamworks Animation. All I own are my OC's.**

**This story may seem like an Alex*Gia story, but it won't stay that way. If you don't like that, I suggest you turn back now.**

* * *

_Chapter One: Sparring Night_

_Smack!_

Alex fell backward, the left side of his face exploding in pain.

"Get up," Vitaly told him, somewhat amused.

It was nighttime in northern Minnesota. Most of the circus animals were resting and chatting after a long day's hard work, preparing for the performances to come.

"I thought you were gonna take it easy on me," Alex said, wavering as he got up.

"You ask me to teach, I vill teach," Vitaly plainly stated. "Come at me!"

Alex charged at him, aiming a right hook at his head. Vitaly blocked and punched him in the gut, using the distraction to flip him over.

"Aaaah!" Alex screamed, landing hard on his back.

"Is enough for today," Vitaly said, walking by. "Next lesson is after next performance."

Alex rolled over and got up wearily. He suddenly found himself face-to-face with Gia.

"Oh! Gia!" he said, surprised.

"Why are you letting him beat you up?" Gia asked him.

"He's not beating me up," Alex reasoned. "He's teaching me to fight. Evidently, I'm not learning as fast as he's hoped."

Gia rolled her eyes.

"At least you're learning something," she said. "That, and Vitaly finally has a punching bag to knock around every now and then."

Alex laughed weakly.

"You're really not kidding about 'punching bag'," he said, holding the side of his face.

"So, about Seattle," Gia started, "is there anything exciting around there?"

"You mean besides our circus in a couple days?" Alex told her. "There's the Space Needle. It was once the tallest building in the west. People could go up a huge elevator and go up to the observation deck."

"And from there, they could see all of Washington?" Gia asked.

"I think it would have been possible," Alex continued, "if there wasn't all that fog around it and over Seattle."

"Oh," Gia said with a smile. "What else is there?"

"I don't know," Alex told her, shrugging. "Nothing else showed up on postcards."

Gia let out a wild laugh.

"Postcards?" she giggled. "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" Alex protested. "This is as far west as I've ever been in the states! What do you expect?"

Gia struggled to breathe as she kept laughing.

"This is why I fell in love with you in the first place," she told him. "I can almost never walk away from talking with you without a smile!"

Alex put an arm around her and tilted her chin up.

"And I intend to keep it that way," he said.

He leaned in to kiss her, but was interrupted by a startling cry.

"Alex!" Marty shouted. "They're back! Let's get outta here!"

"Crap!" Alex hissed. "Not again! When will they just leave me alone?"

"Hurry!" Gia told him. "Get on the train! We've already packed up, so we should be leaving very soon!"

She and Alex raced for the train. As soon as they were onboard, the train jerked and continued on its westward track.


	2. Another Year

_Chapter Two: Another Year_

Alex woke up when the light shined onto his face. He rolled over to keep the light out of his eyes, but the rocking of the train made him hit his head on the box next to him. He sat up, rubbing the bump on his head.

"I gotta stop doing that," he whispered to himself.

He looked around. Marty, Melman, and Gloria were still asleep.

Alex stood up and walked over to see what kind of scenery they were passing. The sunlight lit up the miles of fields to be a bright green color. A far away lake sparkled with the bright light. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. With all the traveling they'd been doing that night, he figured they were already in Montana.

Alex turned and found himself an inch away from Marty.

"Aah!" he shrieked, flattening himself against the wall and burying his claws into the wood. "Don't do that, Marty!

"Just kidding with you, Alex!" the zebra laughed as Alex pulled his claws free. "Hey, you didn't... forget anything, did you?"

"Forget what?" Alex asked.

They could feel the train slowing down.

"You really don't remember?" Marty asked, a little downcast.

Alex hated to see Marty so depressed.

"I'll probably remember whatever it is a little later," he told him.

Melman and Gloria woke as the train slowed to a stop.

"Morning, guys," Gloria yawned.

"Well, we better get out and help set up," Alex told his friends.

He tried opening the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's stuck again!" he growled.

"Other door," Melman said.

The four animals walked to the opposite door and went outside. They went to the back of the train car and jumped over the coupler, although Melman merely had to walk over it.

Marty was the last one to the other side of the train and stopped short. The other circus animals, with the exception of the penguins and chimps, were waiting for him.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" everyone cried.

Marty was shocked. No one had forgotten his birthday.

"You guys were just pretending?" he asked.

"Of course we were!" Alex told him, fixing the door's lock. "We had the door locked from the outside to make it more convincing!"

"And Alice told us it-a was the anniversary of the first-a time you left-a New York!" Stefano cheered. "_Buon Compleanno_!"

He held up a box to Gloria, who took opened it and took a cake out.

"Make a wish, Marty!" the hippo said.

Marty only waited a second before blowing the candle out.

"What did you-a wish for?" Stefano asked.

Marty shrugged.

"I didn't wish for anything!" he told everyone. "I don't think I need anything else, so I didn't bother to wish!"

Everyone cheered, but they were interrupted when the penguins suddenly slid in.

"Hey!" Skipper snapped. "What's going on here? We have a circus to put on! Practice now, celebrate later!"

The animals voiced their complaints as they walked off.

"Spoil sport," Alex muttered under his breath.

Within the hour, the equipment was set up and many of them had started practicing. Alex had started climbing up to the trapeze when he heard a shout.

"Alex!" Gia cried. "Wait for me!"

Alex looked down and saw her begin to climb. He got to the platform and helped her up.

"What will we be doing today?" Gia asked gleefully.

Alex grabbed the first trapeze.

"Well," he began, "I was thinking we could work more on the... wait a minute."

Gia followed his gaze and saw the penguins fiddling with what looked like chemicals and black powder.

"Ay," she breathed. "Not again."

"We probably shouldn't be up here if they're playing with that again," Alex growled.

He and Gia got back to ground level and started toward the penguins.

"Hey! Penguins!" Alex shouted. "Are you guys nuts?!"

Only Skipper turned to face the incoming felines.

"What do you mean by that, fuzz ball?" he barked. "You know we have to save money on something. Dynamite's getting expensive nowadays."

"Says the guy with the golden teeth," Alex growled. "Don't you remember Vitaly saying we're earning more money than even before his accident? We can just keep using dynamite!"

"Not so, fish breath!"

"Hey! You eat fish, too!"

"Boys! Cool it!" Gia shouted. "Skipper, could you just stop experimenting for today, at least? It _is_ the birthday boy you're shooting out of the cannon. We don't want him arriving in Seattle before we get there."

"Fine," Skipper told them. "We'll just settle for using the new explosives to send the seal to Seattle instead."

Alex knew he was joking, but had no other choice but to concede. There was no getting around him.

"Let's go," he told Gia. "We need to find something else to do so we aren't flying off when that thing blows."

"_If_ it blows," Skipper persisted.

"Whatever," Alex growled as he and Gia began walking toward the train.

"Good luck," Gia told Marty and Stefano as the two were walking toward the penguins.

* * *

"Come on, Vitaly!" Alex told the tiger. "You've jumped through rings that were just standing there! What about ones that are moving around? Of course, they'd be at least a little bigger, but-!"

"I continue doing my act, lion," Vitaly growled, annoyed. "I jump through one tiny hoop, lit on fire, and does-not-move!"

"Give it up, Alex," Gia told her boyfriend.

Alex had opened his mouth to continue speaking, but Gia had spoken first and he stopped.

"You know how much he doesn't like change," the jaguar told him. "You got lucky once. Just let him have his act."

"Yeah, well," Alex started, "it was just an idea."

"Hit the dirt!"

The cats turned to look at the penguins, who had all jumped out of sight. They saw the triplets, elephants, and dogs stampeding away.

"Shouldn't we take cover?" Gia asked nervously.

"No," Alex told her. "We're too far away."

"What about projectiles?"

Alex looked like he was preparing to catch something.

"Only two."

"Two?" Gia asked. "What do you mean by... oh -!"

She was interrupted by the blast. Within seconds, Alex caught Marty and Stefano in each of his paws. They had blast marks on their faces.

"But I just-a got-a feeling back in-a my whiskers!" Stefano whimpered.

Alex carefully set down his stunned friends.

Melman and Gloria had just come from the train with small crates of equipment and froze.

"I'll get my office ready," Melman said as he and Gloria set the crates down.

"I'll get some wet towels," Gloria told the others.

Alex helped Marty and Stefano get into the train car as Vitaly stormed off toward the penguins. Shouts could be heard as Melman started treating his injured friends.

"Good thing we don't have any Russian kids working here," Alex told them.

He noticed a large, olive-green case in the corner of the train car.

"Melman," he started, walking toward the case, "what is this?"

Melman turned to see what Alex was talking about.

"That's everything the penguins stole from the vets' office back at the zoo," he said as he continued to help Marty and Stefano. "If the zoo doesn't have animals, why keep the medical supplies, right?"

"Useful," Alex remarked.

"Yeah," Gloria said as she came in. "Now we don't have to _always_ call a vet if someone starts bleeding to death."

She put the wet towels on Marty and Stefano's heads before walking back outside to unpack the equipment she and Melman had brought out.

It didn't take very long for Melman to treat Marty and Stefano and everyone was soon back to practicing for the Seattle performance. Alex climbed up to the platform and grabbed the trapeze bar in front of him. He checked his stance.

"You ready?" Alex called out.

"Ready!" Gia called back from the other platform.

"Go!"

Both cats flew through the air, racing for the center bar. When they were close enough, they leaped for it. Within the blink of an eye, Alex flipped and caught the bar with his legs and caught Gia's outstretched paws. He threw her upward and flipped again, catching the bar with one paw and Gia with the other.

"We did it!" Gia cried.

"At least you didn't kick me in the face this time," Alex joked.

Gia playfully shoved him, making him drop her onto the net before letting go of the bar. They climbed out of the net laughing. However, they soon saw something that made their faces turn to panic.

"Animal Control!" Melman shrieked.


	3. Out of Reach

_Chapter Three: Out of Reach_

Alex immediately dove behind a crate of supplies. The other animals kept their eyes on the five humans approaching the train.

"Did they see me?" Alex whispered to Gia.

Gia kept her eyes on the humans and carefully shook her head.

"No," she whispered, "I don't think so."

She paused.

"Maybe they'll just leave."

"No," Alex whispered back. "They know I'm here."

An irritated look fell across Skipper's face.

"Again?" he grumbled as he saw the officers. "All right, everyone, you know the drill."

All of the animals took on sour expressions as they began packing up the equipment again. Very soon, almost everything was loaded onto the train. Of course, the animal control officers were wary of this and searched harder for their target.

The dogs passed Alex as they took several boxes to the train.

"Opposite side is clear," Frankie told the hiding lion.

Alex nodded his thanks and quickly made his way to safety.

"Do they always have to do this?" he quietly growled to himself as he walked to the train car. "Animal Control is worse than all those crazy girls in Africa! Make one angry and you get an entire flock-!"

He stopped short. It took a fraction of a second to turn tail and run. Unfortunately, it took just as long for the human at the other end of the train to decide to chase him!

"Over here!" he called.

Alex dropped to all fours and tried to run, but felt a snare catch his ankle. He landed hard, but recovered quickly enough to roll over, evading the dart shot at him. This threw the human off guard for long enough for Alex to cut the snare and run like the wind.

Everyone else turned in time to see Alex come bolting out of his hiding place and into plain sight.

"Alex!" Gia shouted. "Run!"

Alex sped off in one direction, and then another, evading snares, nets, and darts alike. He heard the train horn blow.

"Alex!" Gia called. "Hurry! They're about to start the train!"

Alex bolted for the train and jumped in the open car.

**[In slow-motion]**

"FREEDOM!" Alex cried as he was about to touch the floor of the car.

Then he felt a snare snag his ankle again.

"Aw crud!" he breathed.

**[Normal speed again]**

Gia and Marty grabbed his paws and pulled as other officers grabbed the snare to help their comrade.

"Pull! Pull!" Alex shrieked.

Then he looked back at the humans with the snare and saw another preparing to dart him.

"No! Lemme go! Lemme go!" he told his friends.

They did as they were told and Alex flew back, knocking all humans to the ground. He kept running and evading as the train began to move and gain speed. At the last possible moment, he ran for the train and dove into the open car. His friends closed the door behind him.

Gia ran to check him as he lay panting on the floor.

"Are you all right, Alex?" she asked.

"Yeah," Alex gasped. "That was way too close."


	4. Train Talk

_Chapter Four: Train Talk_

It was evening as the train bustled down the track, heading for the site of the next performance. Friends gathered in certain train cars to talk, for maybe even the whole night long.

"Come on!" Marty said. "Let's hear some stories! And how 'bout some stories we _haven't_ heard before?"

"Sorry," Melman told him crossly.

"We want-a to hear-a your-a stories!" Stefano piped up. "From New York-a and Africa!"

"Yes!" Gia agreed. "Tell us, please!"

Vitaly snickered at their eagerness.

"Speaking of," he began, "ve vill perform to go to Africa in Vashigton D.C."

Alex leapt up.

"Africa?" he asked. "Really?"

Vitaly seemed a little perturbed.

"Yes," he said.

Alex didn't seem to notice his change in mood.

"A lot of stuff happened in Africa!" he continued. "I was born there, we crash-landed the first time there, we got chased around by savages... am I missing anything?"

"Yeah," Marty told him. "The actual stories?"

"We're getting there!" Alex said.

Vitaly cleared his throat. Alex looked at him.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

He saw that Gia and Stefano didn't look as happy either.

"Guys," he began, "don't worry. We won't run off like we did in New York! I definitely learned my lesson!"

"Especially after he was almost killed twice," Gloria added.

"There's no way we're jumping ship," Alex continued. "Circus life is better than living on the dry, hot, African plains."

"But don't you need to go back sometime?" Melman piped up.

Marty and Gloria gave him looks.

"Yeah," Alex said, "but I can do that years from now. Dad won't be on his deathbed any time soon!"

"What do you mean by that?" Gia asked.

"Oh, uh," Alex answered, "My parents are the alphas of my home pride, and, well, I'm the only heir. I shoulda told you that earlier, huh?"

"You will-a have to leave-a?!" Stefano squeaked, tears starting to flow.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Alex protested. "Settle down, Stefano! I'll probably only leave when everyone's thinking of retirement! It's no big deal!"

"You run from home?" Vitaly asked. "Is that vhy I teach you to fight?"

"No," Alex told him. "I need to learn to fight regardless. I didn't exactly give Dad the time to train me himself."

Everyone fell silent.

"So, how 'bout story time?" Marty said.

"It can't hurt," Melman agreed.

"Does anyone have New York stories?" Gloria asked. "Just to get that out of the way?"

Alex thought for a minute after he sat down with Gia. Then he laughed a little.

"What?" Gia asked.

"Lucille," Alex said, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Oh," Gloria teased, "your favorite vet!"

"Shut it," Alex told her as she, Marty, and Melman began to laugh.

"A vet-a?" Stefano asked.

"The first thing you need to know about vets," Alex began, "is that you should never mess with 'em. Now that I think of it, wasn't Lucille always the one that darted me when I needed to come in?"

The other three were stifling laughs.

"I think so," Melman said.

"Oh, poor you," Gia said with false concern.

"Whatever," Alex continued. "It may be the same with other vets, but you should never turn your back on Lucille, whether you know she has a needle or not. I'm not kidding!"

He added that last part as everyone but him started to laugh.

"At least she doesn't lie," Melman said.

Alex suddenly shuddered.

"Oh, jeez," he began, "I just remembered someone else."

"Park?" Marty asked, solemn.

"Eh? Park?" Vitaly asked. "Who is Park?"

"Jonathan Park, the owner of the Central Park Zoo," Alex told him. "He was the only human I didn't like while we were still living there. Creepy guy, more stuck-up than I'll ever be."

Vitaly, Gia, and Stefano had looks of surprise on their faces.

"He keeps claiming that he bottle-fed me when I was first brought to the zoo," Alex continued. "It isn't true, because I remember clearly that it was always Lucille that did, and he just 'supervised'."

"Idiot," Gia breathed.

"Exactly," Alex said. "But, now we're free of that jerk because he released us into the wild!"

"I didn't hear anything like that!" Marty protested. "He really released us?"

"Yeah," Alex told him. "After I woke up from Grand Central, I heard some news people announcing that the zoo was releasing us into the wild."

"Then they drugged you again?" Melman asked.

"Yep," Alex growled.

"So after this 'Grand Central'," Gia began, "you were sent to Africa?"

"No," Gloria told her. "We got stranded on Madagascar, and then went to Africa."

"Madagascar?" Stefano asked.

"Nothing much happened there," Marty said. "The usual stranded on a deserted island stuff. Alex tried to find and flag down ships, I made a shelter, and then Alex went nuts and bit me."

"Hey! I said I was sorry!" Alex shouted.

Everyone laughed a little.

"So who has the most Africa stories?" Gia asked.

"That would be Alex," Melman said. "After all, he's the only one with family out there."

"So what are your parents like, Alex?" Gia asked him.

"Si! Si!" Stefano cried. "Tell-a us!"

"Well," Alex began, "Mom is kind and supportive, even after I accidentally got us banished. And Dad is strong, brave, and is, well, sometimes pretty hard on me."

"Especially when you accidentally got you guys banished?" Gia asked.

"Pretty much," Alex replied.

"How-a did you-a get-a banished?" Stefano asked.

"It was a huge misunderstanding on my part," Alex said quickly. "We got it all sorted out by bringing the water back and technically banishing the guy that set me up."

"It sounds like you had a great adventure there," Gia said.

"And that was only the beginning!" Marty added. "I found this huge heard of my own look-alikes, Melman became a witch doctor, and Gloria met a guy named Moto Moto."

"And I hope I'll never meet that jerk again," Gloria said sternly. "Melman's all I'll ever need."

"Aw, honey," Melman told her.

"Which reminds me," Alex began, "when are you gonna find someone, Marty? Have you asked one of the triplets yet?"

"Hey!" Marty protested. "You know I'll never do that! It'll only lead me into trouble! I still can't tell them apart!"

Everyone snickered. Then Marty got a look on his face. He knew just how to get back at Alex.

"Hey, Al," he said. "I think we forgot a story. The Joke?"

He, Gloria, and Melman started laughing again. Alex lost his smile.

"Oh, come on," he complained. "Not that one."

"If this-a is a joke-a," Stefano asked, "why aren't-a you laughing, Alice?"

"Because it isn't a joke," Alex said. "It was a prank."

He reached out and smacked the back of Marty's head. But this made the zebra laugh harder.

Vitaly let out a laugh.

"You vere pranked!" he said.

"Yeah," Alex admitted. "I was."

"What happened?" Gia asked eagerly.

"Do you really need to know?" Alex asked.

"Well, what happened was Alex was entertaining this group of cubs," Gloria began to explain, trying not to laugh before she was done. "He was imitating a big, buff lion with a deep voice, you know, just trying to make them laugh! And then Marty comes up, and he -!"

She started laughing again.

"I made a little handbag," Marty continued, "just like the one a certain little old lady used when she beat him up two or three times a while ago! And I snuck up behind Alex, and I hit him on the shoulder, and he-!"

He started laughing harder than Gloria. Melman could hardly breathe because he was laughing so hard, so he couldn't continue the story.

"What?" Gia asked. "What happened?"

Alex looked at his cackling friends and sighed uncomfortably.

"I jumped literally four feet in the air and shrieked like a little girl," he admitted.

Everyone but him roared with laughter. Stefano even fell over.

"And that- that wasn't even the best part!" Melman wheezed.

"While Alex was chasing me," Marty continued, still laughing, "his dad came charging in, thinking it was some lioness that got attacked."

"And he figured out what actually happened," Alex growled. "I think it was really difficult to tell who was more embarrassed."

It took a while for everyone to stop laughing. They finally realized that the sun had long since gone down.

"Is getting late," Vitaly suddenly growled, standing up.

"We should really be heading back to our car," Gia said as Vitaly opened the door to leave.

"We should-a be arriving in-a the-a afternoon-a," Stefano yawned as Vitaly left.

"Gia, wait."

Gia turned to look at a standing Alex as Stefano left.

"Is something wr-!" she began.

Alex suddenly wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on her lips. She seemed stunned for a fraction of a second before wrapping her arms around him and kissing him back. After some time, they let go of each other.

"Sleep well," he told her.

Gia seemed to have a dreamy look on her face as she turned to leave. When she left, Alex heard a wolf whistle from Marty.

"Hey!" he snapped. "That's my girlfriend! Only I get to whistle at her!"

He and his friends laughed as they settled in for the night.


	5. Sight of the Space Needle

_Chapter Five: Sight of the Space Needle_

"Attention, all circus freaks!" boomed Skipper's voice. "We've just entered the city of Seattle! Please keep your hands, feet, paws, flippers, and tails inside the train until we arrive at our destination!"

Immediately after this announcement was made, a door flew open. Alex kept one paw and one foot inside the train as he hung outside of it.

"Helloooo, Seattle!" He roared.

"Alex!" Gia snapped, giggling. "Didn't you just hear-!"

"Oh, jeez!" Alex cried, jumping back into the train.

Just an instant later, the train charged into a tunnel, which would have been fatal for anyone that was hanging out of the train. Alex and Gia were nearly doubled over in laughter. They recovered when the tunnel was past and looked out at the city. The Space Needle was visible.

"Space Needle!" they cried.

"Hey!" Alex argued playfully. "I saw it first!"

"No, I did!" Gia argued back with a push.

They kept laughing as the train continued on. When it finally came to a stop, the circus animals jumped out and set up quickly. After an afternoon of practicing, they all began to get ready for the performance.

* * *

The sky was dark and full of stars.

"All right, everyone!" Alex began, addressing all of the circus animals. "This is our first performance in the western states! Let's show 'em what we're made of!"

The animals all cheered.

"Okay!" the lion continued. "Last call! Vitaly, you ready?"

The tiger grunted loud enough for him to hear.

"Gia?"

"Yes!" she shouted.

"Marty and Stefano?"

They both knocked on their helmets.

"Melman and Gloria?"

"Ready and waiting!" Gloria answered.

"Triplets?"

"Si!" "Yes!" "Ready!"

"Elephants?"

Their trumpeting nearly knocked him off the crate he was standing on.

"Dogs?"

"Ready!" they all barked.

"Julien and Sonya?"

Sonya roared. Julien was too busy stroking her fur lovingly to answer.

"Penguins, chimps, and other lemurs?"

"We're good to go!" Mason said.

"Then let's get to it!" Alex shouted. "We all know the drill! Go go go!"

The animals all rushed off to their starting positions. All except for one.

"Gia!"

The jaguar stopped and turned to see that Vitaly hadn't moved. She turned to Alex.

"I'll be up there in time," she said. "Go."

"I'll be waiting!" Alex told her before he ran off.

Gia walked to Vitaly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Vitaly huffed.

"I do not trust him," he growled.

"Vitaly," Gia told him, "we've been through this before! So Alex made a few mistakes. So what? He did learn his lesson. He won't leave us!"

"Just vait," Vitaly said. "Vatch yourself."

"I'll be careful," Gia said. "Now get out there! The people are waiting!"

Vitaly huffed again before marching toward the arena. Gia watched him for a few seconds before running to her starting position.

* * *

Alex was looking down at Vitaly's performance when he heard Gia's footsteps. He looked up just as she came into view.

"So what was that all about?" he asked.

"What?" Gia started. "Oh, it was nothing. He was just worried."

"About what?" Alex asked. "If it was about the new trick we were mastering, he shouldn't have to worry."

"It wasn't about that," Gia told him. "He was worrying about my relationship with you."

"Really?" Alex said. "Well, he shouldn't worry about that, either. I'd never let you get hurt if I could do something about it. Or was it about Africa?"

"It was about Africa," Gia said.

Alex smiled at her.

"I'd never leave you guys," he told her sincerely. "This circus was the best thing that ever happened to me. After all, I met you!"

Gia smiled back.

"Pay attention, Alex," she said, "or we'll miss our cue!"

Alex looked down. Vitaly was just about to finish.

"You ready, Gia?" he asked.

Gia blew him a kiss.

"Of course," she said. "Let's do this!"


	6. The Fateful Performance

**Sorry for the long wait, but here is the chapter! Please enjoy!**

* * *

_Chapter Six: The Fateful Performance_

The performance was a flurry of colors and flying animals. Every animal had a few new moves to show off, pulling them off with perfect timing and flare. They had everyone's attention. So no one noticed a few shady figures sneaking in.

"You got it?" the one in the lead whispered to the figure behind him.

The second figure took something out of its hiding spot. It caught a single beam of light. Had anyone else noticed, the beam of light would have shown that it was a pistol.

"I'm not sure about this," whispered a third, smaller figure. "We aren't going to hurt the animals, are we?"

"'Course not," whispered the second figure. "We aren't going to aim at them. Now let's get in position before we're noticed!"

They snuck over to a ladder and began to climb.

"These idiots don't even have security," the first whispered. "This'll be a piece of cake!"

The smaller figure felt a little more confident. He climbed up the ladder, followed by the second larger figure. They got onto a long, thin platform.

"Hey, kid," the second figure said. "Take it already!"

He shoved the gun into the kid's hands.

"Well?" the first said. "Show us why you're called 'Sharp-shooter'! Snap one of the ropes!"

The kid's heart leapt into his throat.

"What?" he asked. "Won't they hear us?"

"It's a circus," the first told him. "Circuses are loud! Just pop one rope and you're done!"

"But don't get one that's just sitting there!" the second added. "Get one that's moving around!"

The kid hesitated. The only ropes he could see that were moving were the ones that had animals on them. But he really wanted to be like his two companions. If he did this, he'd be one of them. So he took aim.

* * *

Gia launched off one of the trapeze bars and flipped. Alex caught her again.

"We're looking better than we did in New York!" he told her.

"You can say that again!" Gia said.

"Would if I had time!" Alex shouted as he threw her to another bar.

Gia caught hold of the bar and felt a sickening lurch. She shrieked as the bar went vertical and one of the ropes dropped.

"Gia!"

* * *

The two taller figures surveyed the scene with wide eyes.

"You're a sharp-shooter for sure!" the first said.

"Is that enough?" the kid asked. "Can we go now?"

"Not yet!" the second told him. "Let's see if you can get one to fall!"

"Get one what?" the kid asked nervously. "One of the animals?!"

"Yeah!" the first said. "Didn't you see the jaguar jump to a different bar? You aren't gonna hurt it or the lion!"

"But we could get caught more easily," the kid said. "If we just leave now, we won't be seen!"

"Are you chicken, kid?" the second threatened. "You need to be brave if you wanna join us!"

The kid gulped and immediately raised the gun to aim again. Just two more bullets...

* * *

Vitaly stepped into the arena as soon as he heard Gia's scream. He was looking for why the rope had snapped. They don't just break like that...

* * *

"Gia! Are you okay?" Alex called when he was close enough.

"Y-yes!" Gia told him. "We need to get down!"

"No kidding!" he shouted. "Start making your way down! Change bars as often as you can and - NO!"

Gia screamed as another rope snapped and she lost her grip on the bar. Alex dove, caught her, and grabbed another bar.

"Hold on to me!" he told her.

Gia put her arms around him and held tightly.

* * *

The other animals watched anxiously from the sidelines. As soon as they saw why Gia had screamed the first time, they retreated backstage to keep from being a target.

"I wish there was something we could do to help!" Gloria said.

"Absolutely no one is going back out there!" Skipper barked. "It's too risky!"

"Found problem," came Vitaly's voice through Skipper's radio. "Troublemakers up and north."

"I see them, too, Skipper," Kowalski said, turning the binoculars to where Vitaly directed. "Three figures. One seems to be holding a gun."

"Copy that, Russki," Skipper said into his radio. "They'll be dealt with in no more than three minutes!"

He turned to his fellow penguins.

"Let's show those punks who's boss!" he barked.

They all disappeared quickly in the direction of the figures.

* * *

Vitaly watched as he saw Alex struggle to get himself and Gia to safety. He saw what they were trying to do.

"Too slow," he growled to himself. "Down is not option."

He retreated backstage and began running up flights of stairs.

* * *

"If they'd stop moving so fast, I'd get them easier!" the kid complained.

"Listen," the first figure said, "if you don't complete this by the time you get back, we'll beat you down. Got that squirt?"

The boy looked over his shoulder at him and gave a quick frightened nod. He needed to focus.

"Hey, Jimmy," the first began, "got any more clips? Jimmy?"

He turned to see that his other companion was absent. What the devil?

Then he felt like something small was standing on his shoulders. He turned his head to look and felt a flipper hit his neck. He fell flat on his face.

The boy didn't see this happen. He was focusing on his task.

* * *

"Alex! Up!" "Go up!"

Alex heard his friends' cries and thought for a moment that they were insane. But then he saw their reasoning. He could climb the ropes faster than he was able to descend. He looked up and saw Vitaly on a higher platform, ready to catch them. He planned quickly and carefully. He jumped to another bar, but still held the previous one. He climbed higher on the second and jumped, trusting that the first would swing high enough to get him to reach Vitaly.

But he forgot to tell Gia his plan. She shrieked as he jumped and she held tighter to him.

"Hang on, Gia!" he told her. "It's almost over!"

Determined to get Gia safe, he tried to think about the pros and cons of his plan. It was then that he realized, if the ropes were snapped at just the right moment and Vitaly didn't catch them, they'd be flying through the roof and who knows how far across Seattle. But that wouldn't happen. Vitaly doesn't miss.

Then he felt sick as one of the ropes fell. He adjusted his grip as the arc began to swing upward. His heart was threatening to pound out of his chest. He was a second or two away from Vitaly. Then he felt the other rope snap. It was just at the right moment.

Alex let go of the bar, since it was useless now. He reached for Vitaly's outstretched paw... and missed by a fraction of an inch.

"NO!" Alex cried as he and Gia were flung away, screaming.

Vitaly watched in horror as the two disappeared through a new hole in the roof of the tent.

"I missed," he whispered in shock.

* * *

"Alex!" Gia screamed, holding him tighter.

Alex could hear utter fear in her voice as they continued going up into the air. He had the sudden thought to use his size compared to Gia to her advantage, but he might not be so lucky upon landing.

"Gia!" he hurried to tell her as they began to descend. "Listen to me! We'll be all right! Just keep holding on to me!"

Gia realized what he was doing. Compared to him, she was more fragile. She felt him trying to curl around her to take the brunt of the fall.

"Alex!"

She saw the ground approaching fast and shut her eyes tightly.

* * *

"I'm not kidding, Dante! Leave me alone!"

An angry lioness stormed away to load some equipment into a few crates. A jaguar followed her.

"Come on, Denise!" he told her. "I'm just saying that, since we were friends as cubs, why not be friends now?"

"We _are_ friends, Dante," the lioness snapped, "but the kind of friendship you're implying is what I don't agree with! So stop talking and get everything packed up like Rafael told us!"

Dante scoffed.

"Stupid lynx," he growled under his breath. "Need some help?"

He started to help Denise lift the crate, but she quickly set it down and glared at him.

"Are you calling me weak?" she hissed. "You've seen me lift heavier things before, Dante!"

"No, I'm not saying you're weak," he corrected. "It's just that you shouldn't be lifting things even that heavy if you're angry. You know what they say."

"No one says that!"

"Well, I said it."

Denise abandoned the crate and started walking quickly in Dante's direction.

"_I-have-had it_!" she hissed. "You wanna see how well I fight? Do you? You'll be flat as a rug within minutes, Dante! Minutes!"

"Easy, Denise!" Dante tried to tell her. "But, back on the 'friends' issue, you don't expect guys like me to just fall out of the sky, right?"

Denise was about to explain that she'd rather guys like him _would_ actually fall out of the sky so she wouldn't have to deal with him, but they were interrupted by a scream and a large crash behind them. They jumped and turned to see a wreckage of the equipment-filled crates.

"I didn't do it," Dante immediately whispered.

"Come on!" Denise told him, frightened for what she thinks happened.

They climbed through the pile of smashed items and found what looked like a crater.

"Aliens?" Dante asked.

Denise slapped him and continued toward the impact. It seemed all too eerie.

"Hello?" she called. "Is anyone there? And alive?"

It was silent for a few seconds before something shifted. Denise walked toward it, but Dante held back. The closer Denise got, the slower she went and with more caution. She reached out to lift a splintered piece of wood...

A large, gold-colored paw reached out at her!

"AAH!" Denise and Dante shrieked.

Denise realized that, whoever it was, they might not be able to get out and went to help them, Dante coming soon after her. They pulled piece after piece of debris off of whoever was trapped and uncovered a lion.

"Are you okay?" Denise asked, still shaken.

"Uh, I g-" Alex started. "Gia!"

"Who?" Denise and Dante asked.

"Gia! Where is she?"

"There was someone with you?!" Denise asked as Dante looked around and left her side.

Alex got up with difficulty. Denise knew there was something wrong with his left arm because he was clutching it to his side.

"Whoa!" Denise started. "You shouldn't be getting up!"

"I need to find Gia!" Alex persisted.

"Yeah, I understand! But you really need to-!"

"Found her!" Dante called.

The two lions looked over to see him carrying an unconscious jaguar.

"Gia!" Alex cried.

He tried to walk over to her as Dante carefully set her down on a clear piece of land, but he stumbled on more of the debris.

"Careful!" Denise told him.

Everything was silent as Alex got over to Gia and knelt by her. Dante looked up at him.

"She's alive," he told him. "She's breathing and I could feel her pulse. But she's not waking up."

Alex saw a cut above her eye. Because of his worry for Gia, he didn't hear the sirens approaching.

"Dante," Denise started, "Dante, we need to go! Let's go!"

The two uninjured cats ran off, Denise casting one last glance at Alex before disappearing.

"Please wake up, Gia," Alex whispered.

He heard something behind him and looked. An animal control officer was already aiming a dart gun at him and fired. The needle sunk into his chest and he stumbled and fell backward, watching the dark sky get darker until the darkness was all there was.


End file.
